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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Site updates | 43 Comments

The future is here! We’ve finally reached 2017. That means it’s officially the year of Switch. Exciting, right?

To start off 2017, we have a couple of small site updates to bring your way. First, we’ve finally updated NE’s logo. As much as we’ll miss Wii U, Switch is taking over, and it only made sense to reflect that on the site – and so we’ve swapped out the GamePad in our logo for the Switch unit. I ultimately felt that a small, subtle change rather than a complete overhaul would be the right way to go. If you can’t immediately spot the difference… then mission accomplished!

Massive thanks to Beta64 for helping us out with this. He approached me wanting to help, so I’m incredibly grateful. It was almost a happy coincidence that this happened since I’ve been watching Beta64’s YouTube series for a very long time. It’s fantastic stuff and there’s no doubt that it requires a ton of effort, so you should seriously consider giving it a watch.

As another site update, I’m sorry to say that we’re removing NE’s “likes” functionality on January 8. That’s the little text you see in each post (and on the homepage) showing how many times something has been liked. It just wasn’t really used by anyone, and since NE sometimes feels like it’s hanging on by a thread, bogging it down with unnecessary features is probably silly at this point. If or when we find a way to make the functionality more interesting, we’ll definitely consider bringing it back.

Thank you all so, so much for your support in the previous year. I seriously can’t believe that NE will be celebrating its 10th anniversary several months from now. I hope everyone has a great New Year’s and a great 2017 overall. There should be fun times ahead with Switch on the horizon!

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 29 Comments

Right after Nintendo announced Switch, Unreal Engine came out in support of the new platform. A tweet at the time mentioned that the company is “thrilled to partner with Nintendo to help Unreal Engine 4 developers bring their games to Nintendo Switch”.

Now we have some new comments from Takayuki Kawasaki, territory manager for Epic Games Japan. In an interview with Japanese website Social VR Info, he mentioned that Switch does indeed support Unreal Engine, and there are actually a lot of titles coming that are using the technology on Nintendo’s new console. This includes releases of already announced major titles and new games. His final statement was vague, but Kawasaki indicated that he’s hoping the Japanese console business picks up more steam from Switch’s arrival.

On a somewhat related note, Dragon Quest XI will be using Unreal Engine 4. After Square Enix announced that back in Summer 2015, there was an uptick in usage of Unreal Engine by Japanese-type titles. Perhaps we’ll be seeing some of these games on Switch in the future.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 45 Comments

Square Enix owns two big franchises: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet even though Final Fantasy managed to make a big splash in the west, Dragon Quest has still been trying to attain the same sort of success.

Dragon Quest executive producer Yu Miyake touched on this topic in last month’s issue of EDGE. He said Final Fantasy’s western popularity in comparison to Dragon Quest is something Square Enix has “been thinking about a lot internally”.

Miyake brought up a few different reasons in the interview. For one thing, “the source of nostalgia is different” in Japan and the west – Dragon Quest on Famicom and Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation respectively. He also believes that Square Enix should have originally given a greater effort with Dragon Quest’s localization. Finally, Miyake said that the cartoon-like aesthetic of Dragon Quest may not immediately connect with western gamers.

Miyake left some encouraging words, saying that “the age of people who are playing is rising” and there’s a greater interest overall as well. Square Enix is also trying to “soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI” with its spinoff titles.

Miyake’s full words:

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Images | 0 comments

Last week, we put up Pokemon Sun/Moon concept art from the Alola Art Book, a pre-order bonus in Japan. However, some additional images have now surfaced from the English guide. Not only do we have some of last week’s images in higher quality, but also a bunch of brand new ones. View the various pieces of art below.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 12 Comments

Nintendo started to give us a better idea about what it’s planning for its partnership with Universal Studios a few weeks ago. Nintendo-themed areas are on the way to Universal Studios Japan, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s all being branded as “Super Nintendo World”.

Nintendo has said that these areas “will be expansive, immersive and interactive. They will be highly themed and authentic environments filled with multiple attractions, shops and restaurants.” Nintendo also promises that visitors “will feel as if they are playing inside their favorite games – this time in real life.”

It’s a long ways off, but we still want to know: what do you want to see from Super Nintendo World? Do you have any ideas for attractions? Are there any characters/franchises you want to see above anything else? Let us know in the comments below!

Highlights from last week’s topic: Super Mario Run launch thoughts

Jordan Fricks

I just finished the final special world level today that comes with getting all the special coins. I have to say… I was amazed by how addicted I became to this little game. Knowing what was at stake for Nintendo, I expected it to be good, but it was pretty much all I could think about throughout the past three days. It’s surprisingly difficult to get those black coins! It had me swearing and my thumbs were in pain, but I really could not put it down. From Paper Mario to Pokemon and Final Fantasy, I have a huge backlog of games waiting for me right now, and yet, my brain craved this one for some reason. In a way, I’m glad it’s over because I’m suppose to be studying for law school exams, but boy was it fun while it lasted (I enjoyed it more than New Super Mario Bros 2). I think it was the perfect idea for an iphone game too. It’s not as complex as traditional Mario games so as to replace them, but it differentiates itself and what it does, it does very well for $10. My one complaint would be that the final boss is a bit streamlined compared to previous games, but it didn’t detract in a big way. I really hope the added characters find their way to the inevitable 2.5D Super Mario Bros. for Switch.

Jay Bern

I thought it was the cheap cash-in a lot of people might have taken it for initially, but I started getting really into it the more I played, especially Toad Rally. The price for the full game is, however, way too high for what it is, and unless they plan to add more content overtime, I think it needs to go down as soon as possible.

And there’s the Facebook link glitch. Nintendo, please get that sorted out.

joe_1up

My Mario Run ID: 8109 1927 5511

I hate mobile games but I love Mario Run.

I understand why a lot of mobile gamers are complaining about it – because it’s not like other mobile games.

Also, I did this Family Share workaround and it worked perfectly: http://nintendoeverything.com/how-to-use-something-similar-to-family-sharing-with-super-mario-run/

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 9 Comments

Tank Troopers debuted on the Japanese 3DS eShop a couple of weeks ago, and it’s heading west sometime this winter. The game actually wasn’t developed by Nintendo internally. Vitei, the team that created Steel Diver and Steel Diver: Sub Wars, was the primary studio behind Tank Troopers.

From Nintendo, director Takaya Imamura, character designer Yuki Kaneko, and composer / sound effects designer Ryo Nagamatsu were involved. Contributing from Vitei’s side, we have confirmation that Atsushi Obata acted as project manager while Takao Kurebayashi was the design manager. Obata later became a director after Imamura left the project for the production of Star Fox: The Battle Begins. Also, Vitei founder Giles Goddard was a program director and constructed the main system of this title.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Switch | 19 Comments

One of the more interesting – if not outright bizarre – Switch rumors concerns a collaboration between Nintendo and Ubisoft. The two sides are said to be working on a crossover between Mario and Rabbids. Ubisoft is apparently handling much of the development while Nintendo is overseeing it all in great detail.

Switch rumormonger Laura Kate Dale has now shared another noteworthy tidbit about the Mario and Rabbids crossover. If her information is correct, Grant Kirkhope is acting as the game’s composer. That comes from two of Dale’s sources. She says it’s “not a prediction”.

Kirkhope is one of the most well-known composers in the industry. Having started out at Rare, he worked on Banjo-Kazooie and more. Kirkhope is also lending his talents to Yooka-Laylee. That may not be the only 2017 title his music will be featured in assuming today’s rumor is spot on.

Source, Image source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 1 Comment

Amazon has issued an official announcement about sales on its website during the holiday period. According to the press release, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon Moon, and Final Fantasy XV were named as best sellers under video games.

Amazon also shared a neat tidbit about Nintendo and Game Freak’s new 3DS titles. “If each Amazon.com customer who purchased Pokemon Sun and Moon this holiday spent at least an hour a day playing the game since its release, our customers would have spent the equivalent of more than 24 thousand lunar cycles capturing Pokemon,” the retailer said.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii U | 14 Comments

Update (12/29): Replaced Famitsu data with Media Create.

Original (12/28): The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:

New 3DS LL – 111,513
PS4 – 90,140
Vita – 57,170
2DS – 51,077
New 3DS – 13,694
PS4 Pro – 10,098
Wii U – 8,348
PS3 – 1,234
Xbox One – 830
3DS – 169
3DS LL – 109

For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:

New 3DS LL – 84,823
PS4 – 70,031
2DS – 39,218
Vita – 36,214
PS4 Pro – 9,317
New 3DS – 9,149
Wii U – 5,095
Xbox One – 1,872
PS3 – 925
3DS – 226
3DS LL – 62

And here are the software charts:

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

This month’s issue of Retro Gamer features an interview with Satoru Okada, a former designer at Nintendo. Okada worked at the company for about 40 years, and was directly involved with the creation of various hardware.

Some excerpts from the interview are now available. Below, you can read excerpts from Okada about the Game & Watch, Game Boy, and DS. You might be surprised to learn that late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata wasn’t initially interested in the idea for dual screens…

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